EL UNIVERSAL

A dispute between Brazil and Venezuela over biofuels threatens to tarnish the First South American Energy Summit being held in the Island of Margarita, eastern Venezuela,
delegates from various countries told Efe.

The Ministers of Energy attending the meeting have reached no consensus on the summit's final declaration, even though they held a 11-hour debate that should have lasted only two or three hours.

Ministers and officials confirmed that energy authorities -who started their meeting at 11:30 a.m.- continued deliberations past 10:00 p.m.

At that time, the South American presidents attending the event were at a dinner party hosted by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. Earlier, Chávez and his South American counterparts held a working meeting focused on South American political unity.

Meanwhile, Foreign Affairs Ministers -who should have met following the meeting of the Ministers of Energy- started deliberations three and a half hours later than scheduled due to lack of consensus. They could not assess the declaration they are expected to forward to the South American Heads of State on Tuesday.

Brazilian sources reported that Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva would not give up advocating biofuels, even though his stance prevents the summit from issuing a consensus final declaration.

Before departing for Venezuela on Monday, Lula claimed it was perfectly feasible to produce food and biofuels simultaneously, thus dismissing Venezuelan and Cuban attacks against ethanol production.

Final name
The South American presidents did agree to name their diplomatic mechanism Union of South American Nations (Unasur). The organization's Executive Secretariat will be based in Quito, President Chávez said.

He added that proposals would be disclosed later to designate the Permanent Secretary of Unasur -which is replacing the South American Community of Nations (CSN). This project is aimed at  integrating the South American countries.

"This is what we decided by consensus today (Monday) We also addressed other issues such as the Bank of the South, and agreed to enter into a sort of energy accord guaranteeing energy supplies for 100 years. These meetings have been quite important," the Venezuelan ruler added.

Translated by Maryflor Suárez R.
msuarez@eluniversal.com